USAF illustration By 1st Lt. Theresa Paxton: 27th Special Operations Medical Group The 27th Special Operations Medical Group Family Health Clinic (formerly known as Family Practice) and Pediatric Clinic have started the implementation of Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH). This transition is scheduled to be completed Feb. 1, 2012. Continuity is the key to this […]

USAF: Airman 1st Class Ericka Engblom The emergency medical team from Fort Sam/Houston, Texas, crawls through an obstacle course as part of the Emergency Medical Technician Rodeo. The EMT Rodeo is a competition in which EMT teams from across the United States and Germany test their skills in various events that simulate real life scenarios. […]

27th SOW Public Affairs The Cannon Patient Advice and Consultation Team (PACT) Working Group will meet on 10:30 a.m. to noon on May 31 at the Landing Zone on base. The PACT is an open forum that meets monthly to address the medical challenges that impact Cannon’s military families. The group assists individuals who are […]

CNJ staff Parmer Medical Center in Friona has announced an Oct. 22 grand opening at its facility. The event will run from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. (CDT) as a come-and-go celebration at 1307 Cleveland Street. The ribbon cutting will be 2:30 p.m. The hospital will offer scheduled tours of the new facility, and the […]

PNT staff Portales and Clovis paramedics responded Monday evening to an all terrain vehicle accident in the area of the Boonestroo Dairy on State Road 467. Lt. Ricky Mitchell of the Clovis Fire Department said crews could not get to the patient with an ambulance, so pick up trucks were used to get to the […]

Freedom New Mexico Plains Regional Medical Center announced a new visitation policy Friday, citing efforts to help stop the spread of flu. Visitors must be at least 15 years old and all visitors will be limited to two per patient at any one time. Here are some exceptions to the age requirement for visitors age […]

Samplings of recent calls received by Clovis-area law enforcement officers, according to reports: About 2 a.m. Nov. 21 an officer was called to the intensive care unit at the hospital for a combative patient. The officer noted on his arrival a 54-year-old patient was cursing and threatening nurses because they were trying to reattach a […]

VA struggles to meet patient needs Veterans’ medical facilities in our region are completely overloaded and administrators are lax in hiring enough qualified personnel and keeping on top of ongoing problems. When it takes two to three months for an appointment and you are ill, that is too long — especially when you have to […]

VA struggles to meet patient needs Veterans’ medical facilities in our region are completely overloaded and administrators are lax in hiring enough qualified personnel and keeping on top of ongoing problems. When it takes two to three months for an appointment and you are ill, that is too long — especially when you have to […]

Anita Doberman I am a proactive patient. My family tells me I am a bit of a hypochondriac, but I just think I’m being thorough. I also have five young children, any one of whom is sick at any given time, so visits to physicians’ offices have become a part-time job. From office to office, […]

CNJ staff photo: Sharna Johnson Casper the therapy dog visits with surgical floor nurses at Plains Regional Medical Center. “The staff and the patients, they love having him here,” his owner David Kelso said. By Sharna Johnson: Freedom Newspapers A practiced calm settled over Casper as he stood ready to make his rounds. As the […]

By Anita Doberman: Columnist I am a proactive patient. My family tells me I am a bit of a hypochondriac, but I just think I’m being thorough. I also have five young children, any one of whom is sick at any given time, so visits to physicians’ offices have become a part-time job. From office […]

Courtesy of the 27th Medical Group The 27h Medical Group observed National Patient Safety Awareness Week Monday though today. Healthcare organizations across the country are participating in events to promote patient safety. According to the National Patient Safety Foundation Web site at www.npsf.org the theme for National Patient Safety Awareness Week is “Patient Safety – […]

By Marlena Hartz: CNJ Staff Writer A health care regulatory agency has cited Plains Regional Medical Center for failure to counsel a psychiatric patient before transferring the patient to another hospital. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services — a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that strives to improve health care […]

By Freedom Newspapers The 65-year history of how modern health care payment and delivery developed in America has at its center one key fact: Almost no individual pays his or her own way. From this condition, we find: that health care costs rise faster than other consumer prices; that the first question at a hospital […]

By Marlena Hartz: CNJ staff writer The administrator of Plains Regional Medical Center said Wednesday the hospital failed in several areas this year, but officials are committed to improving performance. “We have had so many public failures this year. It’s sad,” Administrator Hoyt Skabelund said during a presentation to Clovis News Journal staff. Hospital inspections […]

By Tonya Fennell: CNJ Staff Writer Plains Regional Medical Center has received 26 citations for violating federal regulations, according to a federal report issued after a May investigation. The extensive investigation was performed by the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services, a division of the U.S. Health and Human Services Department whose mission is to […]

The following is a summary of deficiencies cited in the report: • Infection control A tour of the operating room revealed waste from a recent surgery had been placed in the regular trash rather than the bin for infectious waste. Infectious waste in New Mexico — which can include organs, blood, used needles or any […]

Airman 1st Class Charles John, Cannon pharmacy, demonstrates how pharmacists and technicians use recipes to “cook” on the job. Janet Taylor-Birkey On this day, more than 210 prescriptions wait to be filled by the Component Health Care System (CHCS), a computer system for prescriptions at the Cannon pharmacy, and the clinic staff have not seen […]